Dan's Predicament
by SportsNightLover
Summary: Dan likes Bobby. Rebecca's divorced. He has to choose.


Title: Dan's Predicament

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters

After the shocking news about Rebecca's non-divorce, Dan had to break up with her. Trying to find the pieces of his broken heart, Dan attempted to search for a new girlfriend, but was unable to use his normal charm. Casey came down with a terrible flu and couldn't co-anchor the show for at least a day, maybe even two. Unfortunately for Dan, that meant Bobby Bernstein had to fill in. Fearing his encounter with her, Dan tried to take steps to postpone their meeting, knowing that what he did really hurt. She arrived late only because she stopped for one of New York's famous pretzels. Of course, Dan was thankful for the delay.

When she got to work she walked right past Dan without a word. He turned to Casey to talk about her behavior, but Casey just faked a sneeze to show how much he cared about what Dan had to say. Dan tried Jeremy next.

"Jeremy did you see that?" Dan asked.

"See what?" Jeremy replied very confused.

"Bobby. Did you see Bobby? She was... I mean..." for the first time in his life Dan was speechless.

"What? I'm busy, Dan. Could you hurry this up?" Jeremy asked while typing on his computer.

"Never mind," Dan said quickly as he followed Natalie when she walked by. "Nat, you got a minute?"

"No, and I don't care about your problem, whatever it is," Natalie replied while trying to walk faster. Dan knew that he couldn't talk about it with Dana so he went to Isaac. He had to run because he was on air in a couple of minutes.

"Isaac, I don't care if you are busy or don't care... I mean, please listen." Dan said to Isaac out of breath.

"Why shouldn't I? I've listened to all the other complaints of my staff," Isaac said half listening.

"Thanks," Dan said. "But this isn't a complaint."

"Go on," Isaac mumbled.

"I think that I'm starting to have feelings for Bobby Bernstein," Dan said, hoping Isaac wouldn't laugh. Isaac only leaned back on his chair and said that was interesting.

"I mean she has a great body," Dan said hoping to keep the conversation going. It didn't work because Isaac really wasn't interested. After being told to leave under the excuse that he had the show in a couple of minutes, Dan finally realized he was on his own for this predicament.

Later, when Dan was next to Bobby at the anchor desk, he tried to tell her his feelings, but just stopped after a couple of words.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Bobby questioned.

"Yeah, look, I'm sorry for what I did. So, with that out of the way, you want to go out?" Dan asked trying to be sincere with a HUGE, innocent smile on his face.

"WHAT? Not a chance in a million years," Bobby replied as if Dan had gone crazy. Then she thought, _Actually he probably was crazy._

"What would you say if that incident in Spain never happened?"

"Hmmm...NO," Bobby almost screamed. "Now let's talk about the show," Bobby suggested calmer then before. Dan was obviously hurt, but had no choice but to talk about the show.

After the broadcast, Dan made another effort to convince Bobby to go out with him. She just ignored him this time and went home.

At his own house, Dan prepared a speech he knew just had to work. When he showed up to work the next day, Casey was feeling better so Bobby wasn't needed. Dan, just being let down, tried to tell Casey the story.

"Casey, I'm going to spread it out to you on a nutshell," Dan warned.

"Again," Casey replied.

"Yes. Now, Bobby came in with a picture of me and her in Spain, right?" Not waiting for an answer, he went on. "Good. Then everything was settled and we were back to normal. After that you became sick, which was good," seeing the look on Casey's face he added, "For me. Anyway, I apologized again and asked her out. What do you think?"

"I-," Casey went to respond, but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hi, Dan," The voice said. "You got a minute?" After checking to see who it was, Dan was relieved.

"Rebecca, long time no see."

"So you got a minute?" She repeated in an excited voice.

"Casey," Dan said turning to his co-anchor, "Do I have a minute?"

"Please, Rebecca, take him away from me," Casey pleaded.

Dan and Rebecca went to a side room where they cut film so they could talk in private. Dan started things off.

"How's couple's counseling treating you?" He asked trying to break the ice.

"Dan, I got a divorce," Rebecca said waiting for a reaction.

"You mean a separation or divorce?" Dan asked after a second, trying clarify this time.

"A divorce," Rebecca said, emphasizing the word "divorce".

"Oh."

"Yeah, well I guess that means that if you want to, we could get back together."

"Oh." Dan repeated. He had to choose if he wanted to go back with Rebecca or go out with Bobby. He knew Bobby most likely wouldn't ever go out with him, but he felt good around her, like he had a chance. He remembered about how Rebecca lied to him and how he felt afterwards. To get out of the situation and give himself time to think, he said he would call her later. When she left, Dan was alone in the room think.


End file.
